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Of course I'm not forcing you to do anything if you don't want to, but seriously, what have you got to lose? Five seconds of your life?

Saganaki's incredibly pleased with his handiwork, staring admiringly up at the successive holes in each floor overhead, still red-molten around the edges where his lava plumes burned through. This is more like it. This is a battle! And even though he can't see Houdini, precisely, he doesn't need to. The magby tips his head back and blows out a cloud of whitish smoke, which drifts sullenly towards the ceiling and through its hole, spreading and dispersing as it goes.

But this time Houdini, far above, is prepared. The zorua curls up, still on the floor, and erects a barrier of pure energy around himself, one that proves more than capable of blocking what wisps of clear smog make it all the way up to the fourth floor. And as soon as they stop coming, as soon as Houdini figures the coast's clear, he's up on his paws and over to the edge of the gaping hole, peering down and yipping to Saganaki: how pathetic! There's no way that attack's going to work. Why doesn't the magby get creative instead of relying on the same attacks all the time? At the least he could pick attacks that actually work! There's no way Saganaki's going to win if he keeps on with that kind of nonsense.

The magby clenches a fist, trying to shake the zorua's words. But Houdini's right--that attack didn't really do anything, did it? He could see it falling apart before it even reached the ceiling. There's no point in trying that again--no point in just wasting energy! The magby dashes up the stairs instead of producing another toxic cloud, chuffing out annoyed bursts of smoke as he goes. He's got to get closer to Houdini if he's going to attack properly.

Meanwhile the zorua runs around the edge of the lava plume hole, peering below while shadows gather around him. It's hard to see Saganaki from this angle, and the magby is of course still far away, but Houdini tries an attack nonetheless. The zorua sends a pulse of darkness down at the running Saganaki, and through sheer luck, a bit of it manages to reach the magby. Or so it appears, anyway; the magby simply disintegrates when the dark energy bites into it, revealing it as nothing more than one of Saganaki's clones.

Final Notes
- Since the pokémon are still a couple floors apart, it will be hard for them to hit each other with most distance attacks, and the power of those moves, if they do hit their targets, will be reduced.
- Stat boosts generally last around five rounds before fading; that means that Houdini's initial calm mind boosts will disappear next round, then the next set of calm mind boosts the next, etc.
- Cynder first next round.

First and foremost, Protect if Saganaki decides to send any more of those Clear Smogs your way, or if he tries to burn or poison you (generally, Protect if you see any purple or purple-white projectiles headed your way, or any whitish clouds). Should he Protect, of if you would double Protect use Double Team. Then, once you have decided that he is not doing any of the above use Night Daze

As fun as staying on this first floor was, we should probably part ways pretty soon, Opa; it's probably time we catch up to Houdini. But, we shan't leave without a parting gift! First, send a Clear Smog up to him. If it manages to nab him, so much the better. If it doesn't, well, then he'll have Protected for naught, making him an easy target for another Lava Plume straight up the hole the previous one made (or at least as close as you can get it). And after you've given him all those lovely gifts, head on up to the second floor.

Houdini growls to himself, frustrated by the failure of his night daze and even more frustrated that now he has to sit and wait, to see what his opponent's going to do. Not that he wants to have anything to do with Saganaki's poisonous attacks, and the very second Houdini sees white whisps of vapor drifting from the magby's bill he throws up a tough energy shield. The clear smog drifts upwards, thinning as it goes, but a few tendrils coil around the outside of Houdini's protect, setting up a faint hissing noise as they disintegrate against the energy barrier.

As soon as the air's clear, Houdini lets the protect fall and jumps to his feet, sprinting around and around the charred hole in the fourth floor. It feels good to be up and moving, even if he isn't going to attack. The zorua's reality-warping powers distort the air around him until a dark illusion takes shape, four new zorua appearing to chase after him while he runs.

Unfortunately for Houdini, the lava isn't fooled.

The zorua yelps and races away from the hole in the floor as it, once again, erupts with fiery molten rock. The lava plume leaves nowhere to hide, spewing droplets of molten rock in all direction. Even away from the main column of the attack, Houdini can't avoid all of them, and his new clones vanish when the burning lava hits him.

It's nowhere near as bad as it could be, absolutely nowhere near, but the attack still leaves Houdini cowering up against the wall, as furious as he is fearful of venturing out and potentially getting hit with more fire. As soon as the lava plume recedes, sinking down below the level of the floor, he dashes forward, staring down and once again trying to locate Saganaki.

The magby's on the move, dashing up the stairs towards the second floor. Houdini's fur ripples a moment, dark currents of energy moving through it, and then he releases a night daze at the trio of magby running below. Once again his outside shot actually hits--and slams into the stairs, having burst another insubstantial clone. Saganaki glances up when Houdini howls in frustration, but he doesn't stop running, and moments later he's reached the second floor, that much closer to his furious opponent.

OK, you're getting a bit too low on energy and clones for my comfort here, so fire off a Double Team with as many clones as you can make, and then just Chill this time. However, if you hear Houdini trying to sneak onto the second floor roof, start firing off Lava Plumes through said roof.

Hmm. I going to ask you to try something that might be stupid. Try to get an angle on the second floor through the hole Saganaki created and Bounce to it. If you can't find a good angle just climb down the stairs like a normal pokemon. Then Feint Attack and Night Daze if you can.

Houdini peers down through the hole in the floor, sizing up his options. Yes, he can probably make the jump down there; he's even more confident in his aiming abilities than usual, in fact. The zorua judges carefully, lines himself up, then springs into the air. He sails down two floors to land precisely where he wanted to, just on the edge of the gaping hole in the second floor.

Unfortunately, what this earns him is a huge cascade of lava straight to the face. A flustered Saganaki, far from hearing the zorua making his way down, finds him suddenly right there in front of him oh god, and unleashes his fire accordingly.

Houdini howls and struggles out from under the wave of magma, burned and disoriented and retreating into the shadows for defense as much as anything else. The feint attack lets him maneuver around Saganaki without drawing attention to himself, but once he pounces on the magby, Saganaki simply rounds on him and launches another lava plume, adding to the magma coating the zorua's fur and worsening his existing burns.

Houdini fights back again, this time with a pulse of dark energy that temporarily blinds Saganaki and sends him reeling back. It's no good, though; Saganaki recovers a moment later, another lava plume hits home, and Houdini's left wretched and in pain, half-buried in cooling magma.

Terrain Notes
There are a series of wide, char-edged holes on each level of the lighthouse, their rims ringed with cooling lava. The second floor is a mess of magma, which is piled up in ridges as much as three feet deep. A thin layer of cooled stone lies over most of it, but it would be easy to punch through to the still-molten core beneath.